Tesla CEO Elon Musk gets worldwide attention for his recent solar roof tiles presentation, but Dutch company ZEP already invented the solar roof tile last year. And while Mr. Musk announced his solar roof solution will be offered through SolarCity starting next year, ZEP is up and running and has been supplying house owners, distributors and construction firms in the Netherlands, Germany, England and Scandinavia already. Nowadays, the patented Dutch ceramic roof tiles with integrated solar cells have the energy output to produce solar power and will be compatible with any installed power wall. Additionally, ZEP roof tiles contain patented integrated technology which extract the lingering warmth underneath solar roof tiles which is directly stored in the boiler. This development allows home owners to minimize the need for home energy providers, which puts ZEP steps ahead.

ZEP welcomes the worldwide publicity Mr. Musk generated. “We see an increase of thousands of visitors a day on our website, and they all have an interest for our combined solar roof tiles solution,” says Joost de Graaf of ZEP. “We share Mr. Musk his visionary insight that solar energy power is the future and PV tiles must allow every home owner to generate solar power for multiple energy purposes. In essence we have the same idealistic mission.” The solar roof tiles of ZEP make each roof suitable for generating solar energy. But after presenting the black tile version last year, ZEP recently presented its nature red solar roof tile. Now monumental and iconic buildings in protected townscapes can also use solar energy for generating electricity and simultaneously heat up their boilers.

ZEP is raising significant external funding and notices the attention investors have. ZEP will allocate the additional funding toward company expansion and product development to further boost and support the growing demand in the international markets. Especially in Scandinavia where homeowners are yearning for red solar roof tiles. “This additional funding substantiates the trust investors have in the international growth potential of our company,” says De Graaf.